William smith



-any difiiculty `whatever.

WILLIAM SMITH, Oli' WHITEHALL, BRIDESBURG, PENNSYLITANIAV.

Letters .Patent No. 80,366, dated July 28, 1868.l

IlliIPItQVlEliilENT IN BOOTS AND lSHOES.

die rhehultrefemhin in there Stettin `@aient mit making pari ui the sans.

TO ALL WHOM I'l MAY CONCERN: V

'Be it known that I, WILLIAM'SMITH, of Whitehall, Bridesburg, 4in the county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have inventeda new and useful Improvement in Boots and Shoes; and I- do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof', which will enable those skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being hadto the accompanying-drawings, forming part of thisl specification.-

This iuvention consists in inserting'in Athe sole of a boot or shoe strips of wood, metal, or other suitable material, in such a manner as to preserve the sole from wear, and to admit of said material being readily withdrawn Aor detached from the sole, when,vfrom Wear or other causes, it becomes necessary to have new ones attached.

The object of the invention is to protect the sole of the b oot or shoe from wear, by a means which will not disiigure the same, or be a-t'all conspicuous, even when applied to light or dres'srboots and shoes. l i i In the accompanying sheet of drawings 4 Figure 1 is a bottom or face view of the soilehof aA boot or shoe having my invention applied toit.

Figure 2,'a transverse section of the same, taken in the line :z: z, fig. 1.

Figure 3, a detached view of one of the plates or stripswhich are applied to the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts. I

A represents the sole of a boot or'shoe, which is grooved longitudinally from its toe or frontend backward any suitable or required distance, said grooves, of which there may be two or more, having dove-tail sides and rear ends, as `shown in g. 2, at a. v

These grooves extend out to t-he extreme end of the toe of the sole, to admit of strips, B, of wpod or metal, being shoved therein, the sides and rear ends of the strips being bevelled o, so that they will conform to the ,dove-tail sides and rear ends of the grooves a, and cause said strips to befirmly secured in the`grooves, the casual movement ofthe former in the latter, in a. longitudinaldirection, being prevented by screws b.

The inner surfaces of the strip B `are cut transversely at certain distances, as shown at c, iig. 3, said cuts 1 being of any suitable depth. Y i

These outs admit of the strips being exible, so that they will give or bend under the motion ofthe foot in walking, and-not serve to inconvenience t'he'vvearer by rendering the sole rigid or inexible. i

The strips B are suciently thick to extend down from the'sole, and protect the latter from Wear, as will be understood byv'referiing to iig. 2.

This simple invention will greatly protect the soles of boots and shoes from wear, andwhen` said strips become worn so as not to serve as aprotect'ion for the'sole, they may be detached, and new ones applied, without I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The application to the soles of boots and shoes of strips B of wood, metal, Urother suitable material, 'having beyelled sides, and fitted in grooves in the sole, the grooves having'dove-tail sides, to correspond to the sides ofthe strips.

2. Cutting transversely the inner surfaces of said strips B, in order to render them yielding or flexible, substantially as shown and described.

WILLIAM SMITH.

Witnesses:

'WILLIAM JOYCE, t JEREMIAH MEAGnnn. 

